Simultaneous telephone ring apparatus and method

ABSTRACT

Methods and apparatus for a simultaneous ring system. The system is configured to be coupled to the end-user line of the telephone network. In response to receiving an incoming call on the user-line, the simultaneous ring system simultaneously ring target phone numbers associated with the telephone number and transfers the telephone call to the telephone network if a connection to one of the target phone numbers is made. These and other advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon reading the following detailed descriptions and studying the various figures of the drawings.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of Invention

The present invention relates generally to telephone communicationsystems, and more particularly, the present invention relates to asimultaneous telephone ring system and method.

2. Description of the Related Art

Trends such as telecommuting, virtual offices, contract employment, etc.have led to the proliferation of both land-based and cellular phoneservices. It is not uncommon for a person to have different telephonenumbers at their corporate office, their home office, their home, andone or more cell phone numbers. Callers are therefore often required todial multiple numbers in order to reach a person. This is not only awaste of time, but expensive. A number of prior “simultaneous ring”systems have been proposed.

One type of known simultaneous ring system relies on an AdvancedIntelligent Network (AIN), which is a computer (or set of computers)that is integrated into the (typically Signaling System Seven (SS7))control network of a phone company. For example at Cincinnati BellTelephone, an AIN system has been programmed to implement a simultaneousring service. When a call to a telephone number with the simultaneousring service is placed on the SS7 telephone network, the AIN looks upthe associated target telephone numbers in a database and rings eachnumber. If one of the phones is answered, a talk path is established andthe calls to the other target telephone numbers are terminated. Thisarrangement, however, has several drawbacks. AIN systems are veryexpensive, complicated, and difficult to maintain. The AIN system alsohas to be integrated into the SS7 telephone network and therefore has tobe implemented by the phone company.

Another type of known simultaneous ring system relies on a PBX or someother type of central switching device which associates one or moretarget phone numbers with an incoming telephone number. When a telephonecall on the incoming number is received, the central switching deviceplaces a call to each of the target phone numbers. If one of the targetphone numbers is answered, a link through the switching device to thetarget number is established. This arrangement, which is sometimesreferred to as “conferencing” or “bridging”, requires the central switchto maintain the link for the entire duration of the telephone call.Consequently conferencing or bridging is expensive because phone servicecharges are accrued during the entire duration of the phone call.

A simultaneous ring system and method that connects to a telephonecompany network over a standard end-user service line and which performsa call transfer using the telephone company network when a connection ismade with a target phone number, thereby avoiding conferencing orbridging, is therefore needed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for providingsimultaneous ring services for a telephone number associated with anend-user line of a telephone network. The system includes a simultaneousring system configured to couple the incoming caller line to theanswering (or default) end-user line of the telephone network. Inresponse to receiving an incoming call on the user-line, thesimultaneous ring system simultaneously rings target phone numbersassociated with the telephone number and then transfers the telephonecall to the telephone network if a connection to one of the target phonenumbers is made. If a connection is not made (i.e., the call is notanswered), the incoming call is transferred to the user's defaulttarget, which is typically their Voice Mail. These and other advantagesof the present invention will become apparent upon reading the followingdetailed descriptions and studying the various figures of the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention may best be understood by reference to the followingdescription taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a diagram of the simultaneous ring system of the presentinvention coupled between a telephone company phone network and theInternet.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the simultaneous ring system of the presentinvention.

FIG. 3 is block diagram of simultaneous ring modules contained withinthe simultaneous ring-system.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating the operation of the simultaneousring system of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a database hierarchy used in thesimultaneous ring system of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a network of simultaneous ring systemsaccording to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 7A through 7J are screen shots of exemplary web pages hosted bythe simultaneous ring system for signing up for the simultaneous ringservice and administering an existing account on the simultaneous ringservice of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Referring to FIG. 1, a diagram of the simultaneous ring system 10 of thepresent invention is shown coupled between a telephone network 12 andthe Internet 14. A standard user telephone line 16 is used to connectthe phone network 12 and the simultaneous ring system 10. The phonenetwork 12 includes a plurality of switching stations 18 a-18 nconnected together in an arrangement commonly called a Signaling System7 (SS7) network used for call set-up and disconnect. As is well known inthe art, the SS7 network is used for establishing a call path between acaller and a target phone number. A separate voice path network is usedonce the call path is established. The simultaneous ring system 10 isalso coupled to the Internet 14 either indirectly through an InternetService Provider (not shown) or directly. In either arrangement, theInternet 14 allows Internet users to access the simultaneous ring system10 for a variety of reasons, such as to sign-up for the simultaneousring service or to update an existing simultaneous ring account, as isdescribed in greater detail below.

Referring to FIG. 2, a block diagram of the simultaneous ring system 10is shown. The simultaneous ring system 10 includes a voice card 30coupled to the user telephone line 16, a server 32 including a hardwaredriver 34 and simultaneous ring software 36 to control operation of thesimultaneous ring system 10, a relational database 38 for storingsubscriber record information and target telephone number information,and a web server 40 coupled between the database 38 and the Internet 14.In one embodiment, the voice card is a model D480/SC-2T1 from IntelCorporation (Dialogic Subsidiary), Santa Clara, Calif. The usertelephone line 16 is an Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) linewith Two B-Channel Transfer (TBCT) capability. For example the usertelephone line 16 may be a “Primary Rate Interface (ISDN-PRI)”twenty-three B-Channel and one D-Channel line with six lines used forincoming calls and seventeen lines used for outgoing calls. Inalternative embodiments, other types of user telephone lines 16 may beused, such as ISDN PRI European Standard and ISDN Basic Rate Interface(BRI). The hardware driver 34 provides an interface between the voicecard 30 and the server 32. The database 38 is accessible by both theserver 32 and by Internet users through the web server 40. Inalternative embodiments, the number of channels provided on the usertelephone line 16 may vary depending on the number of subscribers to thesimultaneous ring system 10 and the amount of incoming telephone calls.In the situations where the number of subscribers and incoming telephonecall traffic is high, multiple user telephone lines 16 and voice cards30 may be needed.

In one embodiment, the user telephone line 16 provides a Primary RateInterface (PRI) service between the telephone network 12 and thesimultaneous ring system 10. With the PRI service, a large number oftelephone numbers (i.e., 500 or more) are associated with the telephoneline 16. Telephone calls received by the telephone network 12corresponding to the PRI telephone numbers are offered to thesimultaneous ring system 10. With this arrangement, a simultaneous ringsubscriber is assigned to one of the PRI telephone numbers. Onetelephone line 16 can therefore service multiple simultaneous ringsubscribers. If the number of subscribers exceeds the number oftelephone numbers associated with the PRI service, then additionalsimultaneous ring systems 10 and/or telephone lines 16 with PRI servicemay by added in a modular fashion so that any number of subscribers canbe serviced by any of the simultaneous ring systems and/or telephonelines with PRI service.

Referring to FIG. 3, a block diagram of the modules contained in thesimultaneous ring software 36 is shown. The simultaneous ring software36 includes an incoming call manager. 50, an outgoing call manager 52,and a call manager 54. The incoming call manager 50 handles inbound callnotification by passing the SS7 signal received on one of the incomingchannels of the user telephone line 16 to the call manager 54 andgenerates a ringing signal so that the caller hears a ring. The callmanager 54 performs a first query of the database 38 to determine if theincoming call is to a telephone number that belongs to a validsubscriber and a second database query to look up the target phonenumbers if the telephone number belongs to a valid subscriber. Assuminga valid subscriber, the outgoing call manager 54 initiates the SS7 callson the outbound channels of the user telephone line 16 for each of thetarget telephone numbers. When one of the target telephone numbers isanswered or goes into some type of voice mail or automated answeringmachine system (through a PBX system or otherwise), the telephonenetwork 12 notifies the outgoing call manager 52 that a call pathconnection has been made. In turn, the call manager 54 is notified ofthe connection and causes a Two-B Channel Transfer (TBCT) between theincoming caller and the connected outgoing line. When this occurs, thesimultaneous ring system 10 is switched out of the connection.Consequently the simultaneous ring system 10 does not performconferencing or bridging. In accordance with another embodiment, thesimultaneous ring system 10 may maintain the connection between thecaller and the target telephone number for the duration of the call ifconferencing or bridging is desired.

In yet another embodiment, the outgoing call manager 52 may beconfigured to initiate the outgoing calls at various times to compensatefor different set-up times of the target telephone numbers so that theyall ring at substantially the same time. For example, a local call to aland-based phone typically takes approximately 750 milliseconds toestablish a connection and to start ringing whereas a connection forlong distance call may require 1,250 milliseconds or a call to a cellphone may require 4,250 milliseconds. Accordingly, the outgoing callmanager 52 can be configured to introduce a dynamic delay beforeinitiating calls to local land-base telephones until a ringing signal isdetected from all the target cell phone and/or long distance telephonenumbers. Alternatively, the outgoing call manager can be programmed to aconfigurable fixed delay so that all the target phone numbers ring atsubstantially the same time. For example, a call to a local land basedphone may be delayed 3,500 milliseconds so that it may simultaneouslyring with a target cell phone. It should be noted that theaforementioned dynamic and fixed delays are only exemplary and that adelay of any time period may be used to achieve substantial simultaneousringing.

Referring to FIG. 4, a flow diagram 60 illustrating the operation of thesimultaneous ring system. 10 is shown. Initially the simultaneous ringsystem 10 receives an incoming call (step 62) over the user telephoneline 16. The simultaneous ring software 36 decodes the phone number(step 64) and then queries the database 38 (step 66) to determine if thephone number belongs to a subscriber (decision diamond 68). If the phonenumber does not belong to a subscriber, the processing of the incomingcall is terminated (step 72). If the phone number belongs to asubscriber, the simultaneous ring system 10 then determines if thesubscriber is valid (decision diamond 72). If the subscriber is notvalid, the system terminates the call processing (step 74). If valid,the system 10 again queries the database 38 for the target telephonenumbers associated with the incoming telephone number (step 76). Nextthe simultaneous ring system 10 initiates calls to the target cell phonenumbers (if present), the long distance numbers (if present) (step 78)and the local land-based phone numbers (if present) (step 80). Dependingon the embodiment used, the system 10 may introduce either a dynamicand/or a configurable delay (step 80) before initiating the calls to theland-based local numbers so they may ring substantially simultaneouslywith the long distance calls or cell phone calls. Once the target phonenumbers are called, the system 10 determines if one of the targets isanswered (decision diamond 82). If yes, a Two B Channel Transfer (TBCT)to the target that answered is performed (step 84). If no target answersbefore the predetermined threshold expires (decision diamond 86), then aTwo B Channel Transfer to the default target telephone number (step 88)is performed. When the Two B Channel Transfer occurs, the calls to theother targets are terminated (step 90) and the processing of theincoming call is complete (step 92).

Referring to FIG. 5, a block diagram illustrating the database hierarchy100 of the database 38 is shown. The database 38 includes a plurality ofaccount records 102. Each account record includes information related toa billing entity for a subscriber. For example, if the billing entity isan individual, the account record 102 typically includes the billingaddress, information on how to bill the account (i.e. a credit card thatis billed every month), and whether the user has available credit tocover outgoing toll calls to target long distance or internationalnumbers. With corporate accounts, the account record 102 also includesbilling information, available credit, and how many subscribers areassociated with the corporate account. In addition, the each accountrecord 102 includes a pointer 104 to one or more subscriber records 106.Each subscriber record 106 includes the subscriber's name, emailaddress, user-defined password, other personal information, and a flagwhich determines if the subscriber is valid or not. If the accountrecord 102 is for an individual, then only one subscriber record 106 isprovided. On the other hand, if the account record 102 is for acorporation, business or other organization or entity, then multiplesubscriber records 106 are provided, one for each subscriber. Eachsubscriber record 106 also includes a pointer 108 to a service record110. The service record 110 includes the primary telephone numberassigned to the subscriber, the target telephone number(s), associatedwith the primary number, and information related to each target phonenumber (i.e., cell, long distance, international, etc.).

Referring to FIG. 6, a block diagram of a network 120 of simultaneousring systems 10 is shown. Specifically in this example, simultaneousring systems 10 a, 10 b, and 10 c are provided for area codes 650, 408and 415 respectively. A master database 122, which includes all of theaccount records 102, subscriber records 106 and service records 110 forthe entire system 120, is coupled to each of the simultaneous ringsystems 10 a, 10 b and 10 c respectively. The database 38 in eachsimultaneous ring system 10 a, 10 b, and 10 c includes a second copy ofthe subscriber records 106 and service records 110 for subscribershaving a primary number within the 650, 408, and 415 area coderespectively. With this arrangements an Internet user can access themaster database 120 via a single web portal over the Internet 14 andsign up for the simultaneous ring service or manage an existing account,regardless of which area code they live in. For example, when asubscriber living in the 415 area code creates or updates an account,the account information is written into the master database 122 and intothe local database 38 within the system 10 a. Thus a regional,nation-wide or oven a global simultaneous ring system can be implementedand accessed from a single web page portal. It should be noted that theembodiment, shown in FIG. 6 is only exemplary. In area codes with manylocal exchanges, a similar arrangement with one or more systems 10 foreach exchange may be provided.

Referring to FIGS. 7A through 7J, a series of web pages illustrating thesign-up and administration of an account on the simultaneous ring system10 is shown. In FIG. 7A, a home page describing the simultaneous ringsystem 10 is shown. Also provided is a “Get Service Now” icon and a“Subscribers” icon. It should be noted that the web pages of FIG. 7Athrough 7J are only exemplary and other web pages with the same or adifferent look, feel, and sequence could be used.

When the Get Service Now icon is selected, the web page illustrated inFIG. 7B is displayed. This web page enables the user to become asubscriber by completing and submitting the name, email, password, city,etc. data entry fields. When this information is correctly entered usingthe “Continue” icon, the web page of FIG. 7C appears. With this page,the user selects their primary telephone number. In the embodimentshown, standard numbers are provided at one price and more desirable“premium” numbers are provided at a higher price. In one embodiment, thedisplayed numbers are affiliated with the ISDN PRI (or group of PRItelephone connections) associated with the standard telephone line 16.Once a primary number is selected and entered by clicking the “Continue”icon, the web page of FIG. 7D appears. With this page, the user isrequired to enter their target phone numbers and indicate if each numberis cellular or not and if voice mail is associated with the number.Generally only one entered number has voice mail and this number becomesthe user's “default” number. When this information is entered using the“Continue” icon, the web page of FIG. 7E appears. With this page, theuser is required to enter their credit card, address, and other billinginformation. Again when the user enters this information using the“Continue” icon, the web page of FIG. 7F appears. On this page, the useris presented with a text message of the cost of the service, billingprocedures, etc. and an “Activate” icon. When the Activate icon isselected, all the information previously entered is written into thevarious records of the database 38 and the user becomes a subscriber.

When the Subscribers icon is selected, the web page of FIG. 7G appears.This page requests a subscriber to enter their simultaneous ring (e.g.their primary) number and their previously defined password. Once thisinformation is entered using the “Secure Logon” icon, the web page ofFIG. 7H appears. This page enables the subscriber to change or addadditional target numbers. Similarly the web page of FIG. 7I allows thesubscriber to update their personal information and the web page of FIG.7J allows the subscriber to update their billing information.

Although only a few embodiments of the present invention have beendescribed, it should be understood that the present invention may beembodied in many other specific forms without departing from the truespirit or the scope of the invention. Therefore, the present examplesare to be considered as illustrative and not restrictive, and theinvention is not to be limited to the details given herein, but may bemodified within the scope of the appended claims.

1. A method of offering simultaneous ring services for a telephonenetwork, comprising: accessing a user telephone line provided by thetelephone network, the telephone line having an associated telephonenumber; Receiving a telephone call placed to the telephone number on theend user telephone line; retrieving target telephone numbers associatedwith the telephone number in response to the telephone call; calling thetarget telephone numbers so that telephones associated with the targettelephone numbers ring substantially simultaneously; and transferringthe telephone call to the telephone network after a connection is madewith one target telephone number among the target telephone numbers. 2.The method of claim 1, further comprising terminating the telephone callon the user telephone line after the connection is made with the onetarget telephone number.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein thetransferring the telephone call further comprises transferring thetelephone call to a default target telephone number if no connection ismade with the target telephone numbers.
 4. The method of claim 3,wherein the default telephone number is determined by the time of daythe telephone call was received.
 5. The method of claim 3, wherein thedefault telephone number is determined by the day of the week thetelephone call was received.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein thetransferring the telephone call to the one target telephone numberfurther comprises transferring the telephone call to the first targettelephone number which is answered among the target telephone numbers.7. The method of claim 1, wherein the calling of the target telephonenumbers further comprises initiating the call to each of the targettelephone numbers at substantially the same time.
 8. The method of claim1, wherein the calling of the target numbers further comprisesinitiating at various times the telephone calls to compensate fordifferent set-up times of the target telephone numbers so that theassociated telephones all ring at substantially the same time.
 9. Themethod of claim 8, wherein the coordinating at the various times furthercomprises selectively introducing a dynamic delay before initiating thetelephone calls to the target telephone numbers.
 10. The method of claim9, wherein the dynamic delay is configurable.
 11. The method of claim 1,wherein the end-user telephone line includes one of the following typesof telephone lines: ISDN Primary Rate Interface; ISDN Primary RateInterface European Standard; and ISDN Basic Rate Interface.
 12. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising checking to determine if the phonenumber associated with the phone call belongs to a valid subscriberbefore calling the target telephone numbers.
 13. The method of claim 1,further comprising forwarding caller ID information associated with theparty that initiated the telephone call to the target telephone numbers.14. The method of claim 1, wherein the telephone number and theassociated target telephone numbers are maintained in a database. 15.The method of claim 1, wherein the database contains a subscriber recordfor maintaining account information related to a subscriber assigned tothe phone number and a target record for containing the target telephonenumbers.
 16. The method of claim 15, wherein the account information forthe subscriber further comprises at least one of the following types ofinformation: account status; credit status; and personal informationregarding the subscriber.
 17. The method of claim 15, wherein the targetrecord further comprises at least one of the following types ofinformation: the target telephone numbers; a default telephone number; atime of day default telephone number; and a day of week defaulttelephone number.
 18. An apparatus providing simultaneous ring servicesfor a telephone number associated with an end-user line of a phonenetwork comprising a simultaneous ring system configured to be coupledto the end-user line of the telephone network, the simultaneous ringsystem configured to simultaneously ring target phone numbers associatedwith a telephone number and transferring the telephone call to thetelephone network if a connection to one of the target phone numbers ismade in response to receiving an incoming call on the user-line.
 19. Theapparatus of claim 18, wherein the simultaneous ring system contains avoice card to interface with the end-user line of the telephone network.20. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the simultaneous ring systemfurther comprises: an incoming call manager configured to receive theincoming call; a call manager configured to receive the incoming callfrom the incoming call manager, the call manager further configured to:perform a first database query to determine if the telephone numberbelongs to a valid subscriber; and perform a second database query toretrieve the target phone numbers if the there is a valid subscriber;and an outbound call manager configured to initiate outbound telephonecalls to the telephone network over the user-line and if a connection ismade to one of the target telephone numbers, transferring the outboundtelephone call to the one target telephone number to the telephonenetwork.
 21. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the call manager isfurther configured to generate a ringing signal so the caller hears aring after receiving the incoming call from the incoming call manager.22. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the outbound call manager isfurther configured to terminate all of the remaining outbound telephonecalls once the connection to the one target telephone number is made.23. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the outbound call manager isfurther configured to transfer a predetermined outbound telephone callassociated with a default target telephone number to the telephonenetwork if no connection is made with any of the target telephonenumbers.
 24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the default telephonenumber is determined by the time of day the incoming telephone call wasreceived.
 25. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the default telephonenumber is determined by the day of the week the incoming telephone callwas received.
 26. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the calling thetarget telephone numbers further comprises initiating the outboundtelephone calls to each of the target telephone numbers at substantiallythe same time.
 27. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the calling thetarget numbers further comprises coordinating at various times theoutbound telephone calls to compensate for different set-up times of thetarget telephone numbers so that they all ring at substantially the sametime.
 28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the coordinating at thevarious times further comprises selectively introducing dynamic delaysbefore initiating the outbound telephone calls to the target telephonenumbers respectively.
 29. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the dynamicdelay is configurable.
 30. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein theend-user telephone line includes one of the following types of telephonelines: ISDN Primary Rate Interface; ISDN Primary Rate-Interface EuropeanStandard; and ISDN Basic Rate Interface.
 31. The apparatus of claim 18,wherein the simultaneous ring system is further configured to forwardcaller ID information associated with the party that initiated theincoming call to the called telephone numbers.
 32. The apparatus ofclaim 18, wherein the simultaneous ring system further comprises adatabase configured to maintain the telephone number and the associatedtarget telephone numbers.
 33. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein thedatabase contains a subscriber record for maintaining accountinformation related to a subscriber assigned to the phone number and asecond record for containing the target telephone numbers.
 34. Theapparatus of claim 33, wherein the account information for thesubscriber further comprises at least one of the following types ofinformation: account status; credit status; and personal informationregarding the subscriber.
 35. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein thesecond record further comprises at least one of the following types ofinformation: the target telephone numbers; a default telephone number; atime of day default telephone number; and a day of week defaulttelephone number.
 36. A method of providing simultaneous ring telephoneservices comprising: maintaining a web site on a server accessible overthe Internet, the web site configured to assign a primary number to asubscriber in response to a request by the subscriber for simultaneousring telephone services; associate one or more target numbers as definedby the subscriber with the primary number, and store the primary numberand the target numbers so that the target numbers can be called when acall on the primary number is received.
 37. The method of claim 36,wherein the web site is flier configured to assign a default targetnumber among the target numbers as defined by the subscriber.
 38. Themethod of claim 37, wherein the target telephone numbers can beassociated with the following types of phones: land based telephones; orwireless telephones.
 39. The method of claim 36, wherein the web site isfurther configured to receive user information of the subscriber, theuser information including the at least one of the following: the nameof the subscriber; and billing information for the subscriber.
 40. Themethod of claim 36, wherein the web server is further configured toallow the subscriber to update the target numbers.
 41. The method ofclaim 36, wherein the web server is further configured to allow thesubscriber to update the primary number.
 42. A system configured toprovide simultaneous ring telephone services comprising: a serverconfigured to be accessible over the Internet and to host a web site,the web site configured to: assign a primary number to a subscriber inresponse to a request by the subscriber for simultaneous ring telephoneservices; associate one or more target numbers as defined by thesubscriber with the primary number, and store in a memory coupled to theserver the primary number and the target numbers so that the targetnumbers can be called when a call on the primary number is received. 43.The system of claim 42, wherein the web site is further configured toassign a default target number among the target numbers as defined bythe subscriber.
 44. The system of claim 43, wherein the target telephonenumbers can be associated with the following types of phones: land basedtelephones; or wireless telephones.
 45. The system of claim 42, whereinthe web site is further configured to receive user information of thesubscriber, the user information including the at least one of thefollowing: the name of the subscriber; and billing information for thesubscriber.
 46. The system of claim 42, wherein the web server isfurther configured to allow the subscriber to update the target numbers.47. The system of claim 42, wherein the web server is further configuredto allow the subscriber to update the primary number.